Rahul Somvanshi
MIT researchers have developed a revolutionary fiber computer that can be woven directly into clothes, allowing everyday garments to monitor health, analyze movement, and potentially save lives in extreme conditions.
Unlike typical wearable devices that attach to the wrist or chest, these fiber computers distribute throughout clothing, creating a network that can gather more comprehensive data about the wearer’s condition.
“Our bodies broadcast gigabytes of data through the skin every second in the form of heat, sound, biochemicals, electrical potentials, and light, all of which carry information about our activities, emotions, and health,” explains Yoel Fink, a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT and principal investigator on the project.
The fiber computer integrates sensors, a microcontroller, digital memory, Bluetooth modules, optical communications, and a battery into a single elastic fiber. This technology allows clothes to capture, analyze, store, and communicate important health information that would otherwise be lost.
In initial tests, researchers added four fiber computers to a top and leggings, with the fibers running along each limb. When operating independently, each fiber computer achieved about 70% accuracy in identifying exercises like squats and planks. However, when the fibers communicated with each other, their collective accuracy jumped to nearly 95%.
The innovation will soon face a significant real-world challenge. U.S. Army and Navy service members will wear base-layer merino mesh shirts equipped with fiber computers during a month-long Arctic mission called Musk Ox II, covering 1,000 kilometers in average temperatures of -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
“As a leader with more than a decade of Arctic operational experience, one of my main concerns is how to keep my team safe from debilitating cold weather injuries — a primary threat to operators in the extreme cold,” says U.S. Army Major Mathew Hefner, the commander of Musk Ox II. “Conventional systems just don’t provide me with a complete picture.”
The technology offers practical advantages over traditional wearables. The fibers are machine washable, comfortable, and “nearly imperceptible” to the wearer. Made using a type of ultra-flexible thermoplastic polymer, they can stretch by more than 60% without damaging the electronics inside.
Karl Friedl, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine senior research scientist, described the technology as a potential “gamechanger for everyday lives,” suggesting it could eventually integrate with AI systems to enhance comfort, performance, health monitoring, and protection.
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The fiber computer represents the culmination of over a decade of work at the Fibers@MIT lab and was supported primarily by the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. Previous research had demonstrated methods for incorporating various electronic components into fibers, but the team needed to rethink their approach to increase complexity while maintaining flexibility.
“We had to rethink the whole process. At the same time, we wanted to make it elastic and flexible so it would match the properties of traditional fabrics,” says Nikhil Gupta, an MIT materials science and engineering graduate student and co-lead author of the research paper published in Nature.
Looking ahead, Fink envisions a future where fiber computers enable everyday clothes to run apps and provide valuable health care and safety services. “The convergence of classical fibers and fabrics with computation and machine learning has only begun,” he says.
